Amy Winehouse Documentary Headed to Cannes

Amy Winehouse

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Using never-before-seen archival footage, the untitled film will recount the recording artist's life and career; Focus Features International will shop the high-profile project to foreign buyers at the Cannes Film Market.

Universal Music and acclaimed documentary filmmaker Asif Kapadia are teaming to bring the story of Amy Winehouse's life and career to the big screen.

Focus Features International, a division within the Universal empire, will shop the high-profile project to foreign buyers at next month's Cannes Film Market.

“This is an incredibly modern, emotional and relevant film that has the power to capture the zeitgeist and shine a light on the world we live in in a way that very few films can,” said Kapadia and Gay-Rees.

“Amy was a once-in-a-generation talent who captured everyone's attention; she wrote and sung from the heart, and everyone fell under her spell. But tragically, Amy seemed to fall apart under the relentless media attention, her troubled relationships, her global success and precarious lifestyle. As a society we celebrated her huge success, but then we were quick to judge her failings when it suited us," they added.

Winehouse rose to international fame with her second album, Back to Black, which has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide since its release in 2006. The English artist died in 2011 of alcohol poisoning.

“Asif and James have the remarkable ability to bring a moving and thought-provoking story to life, as evidenced by Senna. We look forward to seeing their vision of Amy Winehouse," Focus International co-president Alison Thompson said.

The untitled Winehouse doc reunites Kapadia with producer James Gay-Rees; they worked together on the 2010 award-winning doc Senna, which recounts the life and death of Brazilian car-racing champion Ayrton Senna.